The present disclosure relates to an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, and a communication system which provides communication parameters in relation to wireless communication by a wireless communication device such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, or the like for wireless communication via a base station, and particularly to an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, and a communication system which provides communication parameters such as traffic conditions and the like of each base station for a wireless communication device using one or more wireless communication services.
A mobile phone service based on a 3G scheme called third generation has been started in Japan since 2002. At first, the main application of this service was for low-capacity packets for audio, mails, and the like. Thereafter, introduction of HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Access) and the like which enhance the packet communication speed in the downlink direction from a base station to a terminal has promoted the downloading of packets with larger sizes such as downloading of music files, usage (viewing) of video-sharing services such as YouTube (registered trademark), and the like.
In addition, expansion on the wireless network side has also been made with the increase in the downloaded packet capacity, an HSPA+ service which realizes 21 Mbps at a maximum using the 3GPP system and a Mobile WiMAX service which realizes 40 Mbps at a maximum using the IEEE system have also been started. Furthermore, start of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) service which uses OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) for the downlink in the same manner as in Mobile WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and a 4G (LTE-Advanced) service have also been scheduled for the second half of 2010 and around 2015, respectively. It has been expected that 1 Gbps at a maximum in a semifixed state and 100 Mbps at a maximum even in a mobile environment may be realized due to the start of such services.
In addition, a high-functionality wireless communication terminal called a “smart phone” mainly for packet communication has further been distributed in tandem with changes such as the increase in use of the download of high-capacity data. In addition, position information has become important information in order for communication business operators and service providers using the Internet to provide more user-oriented services to users in the mobile environment. In such situations, GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers which detect position information are mounted on most smart phones. For example, a wireless communication system which provides information of an estimated position with high precision from a base station to a mobile terminal which does not catch a GPS signal has been suggested (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-298484, for example). The mobile terminal can operate an application or the like which provides information depending on the current position based on the highly precise position information provided from the base station.
Here, a problem has been occurring in which traffic is locally concentrated and it becomes difficult to obtain sufficient rate due to the concentration of users on a specific base station to download high-capacity packets. It is considered that there is stationary and dynamic local congestion in the base station. It is possible to alleviate stationary local congestion in theory by densely positioning base stations, which is costly. On the other hand, in fact, it is difficult to predict dynamic local congestion, and the dynamic local congestion is managed by providing connection restrictions on the communication business operator side in extreme cases. Therefore, users can know such traffic conditions only through the feeling after the attempt at communication when the communication rate falls sharply, or when a connection is not available at all, for example.
Without checking the traffic conditions of the base station before users start wireless communication via the base station, it is difficult to alleviate the concentration of traffic, and users feel unconformable since connection is not available.
It can be considered that a method will be introduced hereafter in which a connection is not fixed only to one communication business operator but connection with a plurality of communication business operators can also be chosen by managing a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) of a mobile wireless communication terminal device. Alternatively, the start of various wireless communication services for providing high communication rates has been scheduled, and it is considered that a system for effectively utilizing wireless resources becomes important under such a heterogeneous wireless environment. According to a wireless communication device, it is possible to select which wireless communication service is to be used, based on the maximum communication rate of each wireless communication service or the intensity of received signals.
When traffic is concentrated on a wireless communication service with high maximum communication rate, however, a case is assumed in which the effective communication rate (actual communication rate) of the wireless communication service is lowered while the effective communication rate of another wireless communication service becomes higher. Ultimately, it is considered to be difficult to equalize traffic by choosing connection without users being able to check the traffic conditions of each communication business operator.